"Doesn't he?" Alfred challenged lightly. "He knew about the garden."

He was teasing, of course, and not actually angry about it, since it had all worked out all right in the end. It would have been nice to have had a little advanced warning that she’d gone and told her brother about it, before he’d been blindsided by the news in his parlor — but Zelda hadn't had any reason to think he was going to be talking to Ari, so why would she have brought it up? And Ari hadn't hexed him, this time, so it was alright. He was going to marry her soon and Ari still seemed to think that was possible in spite of the garden, so everything was fine.

It occurred to him a little belatedly that he hadn't mentioned this conversation with Ari to her before, and he had no ready excuse for why he’d sought Ari out except the truth. In fact, she still didn't know about the conversation in the hospital supply closet from years ago, unless Ari had brought it up in the meantime.